90 THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE FEEDING OF MILCH COWS 



AS PEACTICED IN CONlSrECTICUT. 



By Professor H. P. Armsby, Ph.D. 



The observations described in the following pages were n^de 

 for the purpose of comparing the rations used by good farmers in 

 this State with those which foreign, and especially German, expe- 

 rience and investigation have shown to be best adapted to the con- 

 ditions prevailiijg in the countiies where those investigations were 

 made. 



Owing to the comparatively limited time available for work of 

 this sort, and the very considerable amount of analytical work in- 

 volved, but four rations have been thus compared, and conse- 

 quently these observations can only be considered as a beginning 

 in this direction. 



The farms visited were those of Secretary T. S. Gold, of West 

 Cornwall, Edward Norton, Esq., of Farmington, J. J. Webb, 

 Esq., of Hamden, and F. R. Starr, Esq., of Litchfield, and the 

 thanks of the Station are due to these gentlemen for the interest 

 they took in the investigations and the willingness w'ith which 

 they placed all possible facilities at the Station's disposal and con- 

 tributed their own time and personal attention to the pro])er car- 

 rying out of the trials. 



The method pursued at each place was substantially the same. 

 A quantity of each fodder more than sufficient for a day's feeding 

 was weighed oiit. From this amount the cows were fed exactly 

 as usual, and by the same person. The amount of each fodder 

 remaining after the day's feeding was weighed; any fodder left 

 uneaten was also weighed, and from these data the amounts of 

 the several feeding-stuffs actually consumed wei"e found. Samples 

 of the feeding-stuffs were also taken for analysis, and on the com- 

 bined results of the weighings and analyses the calculations of 

 the following pages are based. 



The first farm visited was that of T. S. Gold, Esq., of West 

 Cornwall (Cream Hill). The stock was nearly all Ayrshires and 

 Ayrshire grades, and was fed chiefly for the milk, which was sent 

 to New York. The feeding-stuffs used were hay, maize meal 

 (ground with the cob), and " new process" linseed meal. The 

 hay was mostly timothy and was cut June 30, 1880, cutting fully 



